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Why Google+ Local is vital for offline businesses

A friend of mine recently set up a business as a sports massage therapist and asked if I could give him some tips on digital marketing.

Aside from setting up social profiles and optimising his website, I suggested that one of the most important things he could do was to setup a Google+ business page.

His is obviously a small business and one that only operates in his local area, so would benefit hugely from having a decent presence in local search results.

Having imparted these brilliant words of wisdom it then struck me that my knowledge of Google+ Local is a bit shaky.

So, in honour of my good friend this blog post explains the reasons why every business should be on Google+ Local, and gives some advice on how to setup a page…

Three mobile marketing trends that didn’t live up to the hype

Mobile marketing trends come and go, just like the changing of the seasons and the tides of the sea.

Some stick around and become established marketing channels in their own right, such as SMS or mobile apps, but all too often new mobile technologies burn brightly for a short period before withering and dying.

With this in mind, I’ve rounded up three mobile marketing trends that have so far failed to live up to the hype. I’m not saying they’re dead yet, but they’re on shaky ground.

For a similar grumblings about mobile trends, read my post looking at 12 usability flaws that are spoiling the mobile web.

Or alternatively, expand your knowledge of this topic by downloading the Econsultancy Mobile Marketing and Commerce Report 2013…

World Cup marketing in APAC: Which brand has the most innovative campaign?

The World Cup kicks off on June 12 and is a festival of football that Asia’s passionate fans will doubtless enjoy.

Unfortunately every game kicks off at times between midnight and 6am here in Singapore which is going to mean some very sleepy Singaporean and Asian residents.

Many brands are desperately trying to capture the attention of these passionate fans, both official sponsors and unofficial brands eager to capitalise on the world’s greatest event.

But which is doing the best job?

Five brands that have warmed hearts on Twitter

It can be hard for brands to look spontaneous and fun on social media.

We, particularly the Brits, are all too sceptical about brands doing anything other than trying to sell us stuff.

However, when brands get it right, it can be really rather special. I’ve rounded up some of my favourites. I should nod to Hootsuite and it’s first Connect event, where I picked up the Kellogg’s and Axe case studies.

See if these tweets make you laugh or cry, as they did me (mostly laugh). If you want more case studies, subscribers can shoot over to our case study archive.

Where are they now? Six favourite childhood brands in the digital world

What happened to your favourite childhood brands? What is the value of brand recognition in the digital age? Does nostalgia mean anything in this fast-paced, digital world of ours?

If we’re not sat at our desks in front of a computer, disappointing our parents whose skills as manual labourers are becoming largely redundant, we’re Instagramming our lunch or live tweeting the unveiling of Apple’s new operating system.

Slowly we’ve forgotten the real world of our youth. The one where we’d run around fields, steal apples from trees and flee in terror from a half-blind elderly farmer with a rifle.

How does NATO use social media?

We’ve all been laughing at President Cheese and its 45 day tweet-authorisation debacle (see HuffPo’s explanation).

But if we’re honest, social media still has the power to unnerve many organisations. The nature of corporate comms departments and press offices is to control the news, if not everything said about the company in question, at least the messages emanating from within.

There’s probably no more officious (and I don’t use this word negatively) an institution than an intergovernmental military alliance. That’s what NATO is (or OTAN in French), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, a collection of 28 member states that mutually defend against attack.

That’s why NATO is perhaps the perfect organisation to look at to ascertain the state of social media today. How does NATO use social media?

Five important ecommerce trends in China during 2014

How big is Chinese ecommerce going to be in three to five years? McKinsey & Co. has produced a report suggesting that the market will be between US$420bn and US$650bn by 2020.

At the start of a new year analysts like to predict trends for the year ahead. When 2014 began there was a slew of predictions about the ecommerce landscape in China.

Now that it’s half way through the year I want to share with you some trends that are driving ecommerce in China. I’m going to look at how these trends have developed using some of the insights predicted by Chinese analysts.

Why is LEGO’s social media strategy so outstanding?

LEGO is one of the most beloved brands on the planet. 

Its ability to remain popular for more than eighty years is a testament to the quality of the product and the strength of imagination it fosters in every generation.

To remain relevant in the last couple of decades is certainly attributable to its many licenses and partnerships with equally loved properties. Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Simpsons.

This year has seen perhaps its biggest success so far with The LEGO Movie, a triumph of content marketing that has completely dominated the marketing world.

Almost every media outlet and publisher including us (this is now my fourth article in a row about LEGO), produced content around The LEGO Movie, not just because it’s topical, but because there is so much love for the brand.

It was incredibly apparent how every article written about it radiated with positivity and nostalgia.

20 years of Nike’s World Cup ads

Nike has launched yet another brilliant advert for the World Cup but how does it compare to their previous efforts?

I’ve taken a look at Nike’s World Cup adverts over the last 10 years to investigate.

Interesting to see a certain Ian Wright figuring in 1994….yep, that’s right, we didn’t make it to the World Cup in the USA that year, thanks Graham Taylor!

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